Most critics agree on one thing: Bardem’s Cady. The praise clusters almost entirely on his performance, described across the reviews as charming, then terrifying, and as the anchor for everything around him. The wider cast is well regarded too, with Amy Adams singled out, and several critics admire the direction for sustaining tension over a long run. The reservations are about length and volume. The Hollywood Reporter finds ten episodes too many, with filler and red herrings stretching the story, and The Telegraph calls the series overcooked in its attempt to out-shock the 1991 film. Smaller complaints recur: odd choices in colour, orchestral swells that strike a strange note, and the inevitable comparison with Scorsese and De Niro. The spread is fairly wide, from three stars to nine out of ten, but nobody is negative; the divide is between critics who find the excess thrilling and those who find it exhausting.
The Guardian
3 June 2026
The critic calls the series an immaculate update that is a wild ride, praising Bardem’s definitive, charming-then-terrifying performance as Cady and the immaculate direction with its masterclass in tension and jump scares. They single out the seamless integration of contemporary issues such as AI, catfishing and online mistrust.
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